Automatic toaster



Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. Kocl 2,667,

AUTOMATIC TOASTER Filed Jan. 30. 1948 ll Sheets-Sheet l a JNVENTOR. .33 12.403312 J C1;

Feb. 2, 1954 1.. J. KOCI AUTOMATIC TOASTER ll Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 30, 1948 Feb. 2, 1954 1....1. KOCl AUTOMATIC TOASTER 1]. Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 30, 1948 Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. Kocl AUTOMATIC TOASTER ll Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 30. 1948 IIII Jiwezzzfz Jaded/2&6;

Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. KOCI 2,667,828

AUTOMATIC TOASTER Filed Jan. so, 1948 11 Sheets-Sheet e fizz eiziaz' @Zctowz Q Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. KOCI AUTOMATIC TOAS'I'ER ll Sheets-Sheet 7 Filefi Jan. 50, 1948 WNW mm z Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. KOCl 2,667,828

AUTOMATIC TOASTER Filed Jan. 30, 1948 ll Sheets-Sheet 8 NHN NH NL WNW DNN RN QNN QNN mww @NN NNN IN V EN TOR. [154054112 J/Zaca' q Feb. 2, 1954 L. J. Kocl 2,667,828

AUTOMATIC TOASTER Filed Jan. 50, 1948 11 Sheets-Sheet 9 JNVENTOR.

Patented Feb. 2, 1954 UITED TEE ATENT OFFIC E AUTOMATIC TOASTER Ludvik J. Koci, Riverside, Ill., assignor to Sunbeam Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois 24 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to cooking devices for heat treating food, and more particularly relates to automatic toasters.

Automatic toasters have been extensively used in recent years. Such automatic toasters have generally comprised an arrangement whereby toast is inserted into the toaster and manually moved to the toasting position whereupon the bread carriage is releasably latched in such toasting position. In moving the bread carriage to the toasting position an energy storage means is conventionally stressed. Automatic means are provided to release the carriage when the toasting operation is completed whereby the energy storage means is released to cause so-called pop-up action of the toast and bread carriage so that the toast may readily be removed therefrom. It would be desirable to provide a more fully automatic toaster, that is one which would go through its entire toasting operation in response to only the insertion of the bread slice. Such a toaster would include means for automatically moving the bread slice to the toasting position whereupon the toasting operation could be performed thereon and at the end of the toasting interval the bread slice would be moved to a position for ready removal thereof from the toaster without any manual operation other than the insertion of the bread slice into the opening therefor defined in the toaster. One such more fully automatic toaster is disclosed and claimed in United States Letters Patent 2,347,385, Wright and Jepson, granted April 25, 1944, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. The present invention is an improvement on the arrangement disclosed and claimed in the above mentioned Wright and J epson patent in so far as more fully automatic operation of an automatic toaster is concerned.

In arrangements prior to the present invention expensive and complicated motive means were required both for propelling the toast to its toasting position as well as to return the same to a position where ready removal from the toaster can be accomplished. It would be desirable to provide an arrangement in which all complicated motive means for propelling the bread slices in their movement to and from the toasting position could be eliminated and wherein the high electrical energy which of necessity is required to be supplied to the heating elements of the toaster to perform the heating operation of the bread slices could be converted to the necessary mechanical energy to provide the motive means for moving the bread slices.

Various arrangements have been proposed for use in electric toasters in attempts to so determine the toasting interval that uniform toasting of a plurality of bread slices during successive use intervals of a toaster is obtained. It will be understood that the determination of the toasting interval to provide for a uniform degree of toasting regardless of the character of the bread and under any and all operating conditions of the toaster is dependent upon a variety of different factors. The type of bread, i. e., rye, whole wheat, raisin or white, as well as the bread slice size and thickness and the degree of dryness of the bread determine the degree of toasting during a given toasting interval. Also changes in the environment temperature and variations in the excitation voltage of the heating elements as well as variations in the amount of heat generated by the heating elements, as between an initial toasting operation and immediately succeeding toasting operations, represent additional variable factors influencing the degree of toasting of a particular bread slice during a given period of toasting time. The usual commercial practice has been that of resolving all of these factors on an empirical basis and employing clock or thermal timers having the function of measuring out an arbitrary toasting interval and then deenergizing the toasting heating elements. Various elaborate refinements have been made in mechanisms of this type in attempts to obtain more uniform toasting of the bread slices. Such mechanisms have not only been high in initial cost but have required costly service operations and more important fall far short of the goal of producing uniform toasting under any and all operating conditions. It has been discovered that the only accurate index which may be relied upon to determine the degree of toasting of a bread surface is the temperature of that surface. Recently there has been disclosed and claimed in a copending application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial No. 639,934, Koci, filed J anuary 9, 1946, now Patent 2,459,169, a radiation thermostat control for an automatic toaster in which a bimetallic element is employed which is responsive only to the heat radiated from a large area of the bread surface being toasted. The present invention employs a control arrangement embodying the principles of the above mentioned copending Koci application.

In a control device which depends upon the surface temperature of'a large area of the bread slice being toasted it is apparent that all the direct radiation from the toasting elements must be 3 prevented from reaching such a control device. Conventional toasting elements do not lend themselves readily to such an arrangement since it would be very dificult to provide a reliable control arrangement responsive to a large amount of radiation emitted from a large area of the bread surface by virtue of its temperature rise during the toasting operation without also being affected by direct radiation from the heating elements themselves. It would be desirable to provide new and improved heating elements which would permit such desired use of a surface temperature radiation control while still providing uniform toasting over the bread surface at all times.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic toaster.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved means for automatically moving the material being toasted to and from the toasting position.

It is another object of the present invention to provide improved thermomotive means for moving the toast racks from position to position.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a more fully automatic toaster of a new and improved type in which the manual placing of a slice of bread into the toaster starts the mechanism through a cycle of operations during which the bread is toasted and subsequently made available for manual removal from the toaster and in which all these operations are automatically performed in response to merely placing the bread in the toaster and removing it therefrom.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide new and improved heating elements for an automatic toaster which permit uniform toasting of the bread surface regardless of the age or extent of use of the toaster and which furthermore are especially adapted for a control arrangement in which a large amount of the heat radiated from a large area of the bread surface being toasted is employed to control the toasting interval in a manner so that said control arrangement is not affected by direct radiation from the toasting elements, which permit of ready shielding in this respect.

Another object of the present invention is concerned with a new and improved bread carriage and mechanism for converting high electrical energy normally required to be supplied to a toaster to sufficient mechanical energy to move the bread carriage to and from the toasting position.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of any eflicient reliable frictionless motion multiplying means for converting the limited expansion and contraction of a metal member with heating and cooling to the extensive uniform motion to and from the toasting position required of the bread carriage. 7

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty V which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the toaster of the present invention with the shell and base thereof removed and with the mechanism shown in the toast receiving position;

Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3 but showing the toaster with the bread supporting carriage moved to the toasting position;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view partly in section of the toaster mechanism of the present invention with the shell and base indicated by dashed lines, with the bread supporting carriage indicated in the toast receiving position, and with the control switch in the open position;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 with the mechanism of the present invention shown in the position it assumes immediately after a slice of bread has been inserted into the toaster for toasting purposes to close the control switch but before the bread has moved into the toasting position.

Fig. '7 is a top plan view with substantially one half thereof shown in section taken on line l-l of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is the sectional view taken on line $il of Fig. 5 showing the central heating element and the thermomotive device employed in the automatic toaster of the present invention;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view through the base of the automatic toaster showing the bottom cover assembly and the method of supporting the crumb trays;

' Fig. 10 is a top view of the bottom cover assembly shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings;

Fig. 11 is an end view of the thermostat assembly of the automatic toaster of the present invention with the switch in the closed position;

Fig. 12 is a sectional View taken on line i2--E2 of Fig. 11;

Fig. 13 is a side elevational view of the assembly of Fig. 11 looking in the direction of the arrows Iii-I3 of Fig. 11;

Fig. 14 is a rear elevational view of the assembly of Fig. 11 looking substantially in the direction of the arrows 54-94 of Fig. 13;

Fig. 15 is a front elevational view of the cord end heating element of the automatic toaster of the present invention;

Fig. 16 is a side view of the end heating element of Fig. 15;

Fig. 1'7 is an elevational View similar to the Fig. 15 of the thermostat end heating element of the automatic toaster of the present invention;

Fig. 18 is a side view of the end heating element of Fig. 17;

Fig. 19 is a schematic circuit diagram of the electrical circuit and control arrangement of the automatic toaster of the present invention;

Fig. 20 is a somewhat schematic view of the bread carriage, trip lever and associated apparatus of the automatic toaster of the present invention with the parts in the positions assumed after the toasting opeartion has been completed and the toast moved to the non-toasting position, but before the toast has been removed from the toasting chamber;

Fig. 21 is a curve diagram to aid in understanding the operation of the automatic toaster of the present invention; and

Figs. 22, 23 and 24 are heat radiation patterns to aid in understanding the operation of certain of the heating units of the present invention.

As was mentioned above, the automatic toaster of the present invention embodies the bread surface temperature radiation control arrangement disclosed and broadly claimed in the above mentioned copending Koci application.

FRAME AND SHELL STRUCTURE Referring now to the drawings the automatic toaster generally designated by the reference numeral 25 in Fig. 1 of the drawings comprises an outer casing generally designated at 26 comprised of a pair of end shells 21 and 26 and a U-shaped central shell member 29 cooperating with the end shells 25 to provide an outer housing or casing for the toaster. A suitable base 36 is also provided, preferably formed of a suitable molded insulating material which base includes integrally formed handle portions 3! and 32 at either end thereof and suitable feet 33 at the bottom thereof. It will be understood that the particular configuration of the outer shell 26 and the base 36 is immaterial as far as the present invention is concerned, although these elements will be designed to produce the desired esthetic effect since they are the exposed portions by means of which the toaster may be given a very pleasing appearance.

The shell or outer casing 26 includes spaced parallel slots 34 and 35 at the top for the insertion of slices of bread to be controlled in a manner to be described hereinafter by certain features of the present invention. It will be apparent that the illustrated embodiment is a conventional two slice toaster. Actually it might equally well be a single slice toaster or a toaster for more than two slices. Visible through the toasting slots 34 and 35 are a plurality of vertically disposed guide wires 36 preferably formed of stainless steel and suitably suppotred in the toaster frame to be described hereinafter. These guide wires define the toasting chambers and guide the toast in its vertical movement within the toasting slots 34 and 35 without substantially interfering with radiation between the heating elements and the bread to be toasted as is brought out by the following description.

In accordance with the present invention the automatic toaster 25 requires substantially no manual control other than the insertion of the bread to be toasted in the slots 34 and 35 and the removal thereof upon completion of the toasting operation. For the purpose of controlling the relative lightness or darkness of the toast produced there is provided a manually actuaole color control lever 323 movable through a substantial are within a slot 35 defined between an upwardly extending arcuate member 5-6 and the end shell 2'1. Preferably the arcuate member 45 is an integral molded extension of the base 35. The control lever 58 is pivotal about an axis extending through an opening 5! defined in the base adjacent the handle 3i, see Fig. 9 of the drawings. The opening ll is adapted to receive a manually actuable cut out plunger 42 whereby the toasting operation may be terminated at will. This plunger 42 which is reciprocally movable, is described in greater detail hereinafter with respect to its relation to the other mechanism of the automatic toaster 25. The lever 35 and the plunger 42 are the only manual controls employed or required in the automatic toaster 25 embodying the present invention.

Referring now to Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, where in some cases the shell 25 and the base 35 are indicated by dashed lines, it is noted that within the outer shell or housing 25 there is disposed an inner frame generally designated at 45. This inner frame comprises a pair of side frame plates 55 and 41,. a sub-base plate 56, a pair of end top frame plates 5! and 52 and a center top frame plate 53. For the purpose of increasing the rigidity thereof the side frame plates may be provided with a plurality of vertical ribs 48 and a substantial portion of each end of the side frame plates 46 and 41 is bent at an angle, these angular extensions being designated as 46a and 47a for the plates 46 and 4! respectively. For the purpose of providing additional strength the sub-base 56 is provided with a depending peripheral fiange 5611 around a substantial portion thereof. The top frame plates 5!, 52 and 53 are indicated as having a generally U-shaped configuration to provide additional rigidity with the open end of each U extending upwardly. The end top frame plates 5| and 52 are each spaced from the center top frame plate to define a pair of spaces or slots in alignment with the bread receiving slots 34 and 35 defined in the shell 26. The arms of the U-shaped end top frame plates 5| and 52 adjacent the respective ends of the toaster are divided to form two vertical extensions 49 for supporting the respective end shells 21 and 28. The top end plates 5! and 52 are preferably identical to decrease the number of different parts and each is provided with a horizontal extension 49a between the vertical extensions 49. The horizontalextension 49a of the end top frame plate 5| contains a screw receiving opening to perform a holding operation described hereinafter. The frame plates or members 46, 41, 56, 5|, 52 and 53 may be joined to form the frame by means of any suitable fastening means such as bolts, screws, welding or the like. It may be noted in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings that the top frame plates 5!, 52 and 53 are provided with downwardly extending tabs 51a, 52a and 530, respectively so as to be fastened to side frame plates 46 and 41 by means of self-tapping screws 54. Similarly the sub-base 5!} is provided with punched out upwardly extending tabs 56!) which are fastened to the angular extensions 46a and 41a of the side frame plates 45 and 41 respectively by self-tapping screws 54.

The sub-base 56 is provided with suitable flanged openings 55 and 56 defined therein disposed in alignment with the bread receiving slots 34 and 35 respectively as well as the spaces defined between the end top frame plates 5! and 52 and the center top frame plate 53, whereby any crumbs from the bread being toasted may fall through the sub-base 5% into suitable crumb receiving trays to be described hereinafter and clearly shown in Figs. 9 and 10 of the drawings. The sub-base is further provided with a plurality of additional openings for accommodating certain elements of the toaster. For example openings 51 defined in the sub-base 56 (see Figs. 3, 4, 7 and 8) are provided to receive extensions of a lifter lever depressor bar 58 de scribed in detail hereinafter. The side frame plates 46 and 41 are also each provided with a notched out portion 59 along the bottom edge thereof cooperating with the openings 5? in the sub-base 56 so as not to interfere with movement of the lifter lever depressor bar 58. Openings 56c and 5611 for receiving and supporting extensions of the heating element assemblies are also provided in the sub-base 59 and as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings an opening 6! is provided between the flanged openings and 56 for permitting connection between a thermomotive device generally designated at 60,. for causing movement of the toast to and from the toasting position, and the depressor bar 58.

The vertical guide wires 36 referred to above extend through openings 62 in the U-shaped top frame plates El, 52 and 53 with the upper ends thereof suitably fastened thereto as by welding indicated at 63 in Fig. 7 of the drawings. The lower ends of the guide wires are provided with hooked portions for engaging spaced notches 64 cut into depending flanges 65 and 66 surrounding the openings 55 and 55 respectively. The notches 3 along one side of depending flange 68 are clearly shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings. The vertical guide wires 3t actually define the toasting chambers designated as 67 and 68 which are accessible through the slots 3% and 35 respectively in the shell 26 between the center top frame plate 53 and the end top frame plates 5! and 52 respectively.

Solely for the purposes of simplifying the ensuing description the end of the automatic toaster 25 adjacent the end top frame plate Si is designated as the thermostat end, while the end adjacent the end top frame plate 52 is designated as the cord end. The reason for these designations will be obvious from the following description. It should be understood that the thermostat or other control device employed and power cord could be disposed at either end of the toaster or at the same end for that matter.

BREAD CARRIAGE MECHANISM It will be understood that in any automatic toaster, means must be provided not only for supporting the material to be toasted, usually bread slices, in the toasting position but also for moving the material to be toasted from a toast receiving position to a toasting position and upon the completion of the toasting operation back to the toast receiving position so that the toast may readily be removed. To this end, there are disposed in the toasting chambers 31 and t8 (Fig. 7 of the drawin s) a pair of horizontally isposed vertically movable bread racks or supports $9 and '55, the bread rack 59 being disposed in the toasting chamber 6? while the bread rack 70 is disposed in the toasting chamber 68. Essentially, the toast racks es and id comprise central rod-like supporting members, extending transversely of the toasting chambers 62 and 8, respectively. These rod-like members are illustrated as supporting a plurality of V-shaped fingers l'i disposed in spaced open ends of each V extending upwardly so as to tend to center the sliced material being toasted regardless of the thickness of the slice which can readily be accommodated between the guide wires 35f For the purpose of relating the bread racks 69 and H3 into a unitary structure, there are provided along the outside of the frame i5 and substantially parallel with the side frame plates 46 and ii a pair of horizontally disposed bread rack side arms '52. Each of the ends of the bread racks E9 and '59 are adapted to extend beyond relationship with the the side frame plates 36 and Q1 which are pro- As illustrated serted into the slots 14' and '15 before the subbase is attached to the side frame plates 56 and M. The slots I4 and 15 are illustrated as being slightly curved to accommodate the movement of the bread carriage including the bread racks 69 and ill. The slots 14 furthermore extend much closer to the tops of the side frame plates 46 and 41 than the slots 15 to accommodate certain control mechanism described hereinafter.

In order to form a rigid unitary bread carriage the ends of the rack side arms 72 adjacent the thermostat end of the automatic toaster 25 which is remote from the slot 75, are interconnected by a bread rack yoke ll suitably fastened thereto by any suitable means such as the screws it. As illustrated each of the ends of the side arms 12 connected to the yoke H is provided with an integral cross member 12a so as to form with the associated side arm a somewhat T-shaped member. Similarly the ends of the bread rack yoke ii are provided with integral cross members lla which interfit with the cross members 'iZa to provide at each end of the bread rack yoke ll three vertical spaced openings.

It will be understood that by employing the interfitting cross members 12a and Tia that assembly therewith of elements disposed in such vertically spaced openings is greatly facilitated.

It will furthermore be understood that the bread carriage com-prising members 69, iii, ll, 12, ll and i8, and generally designated by the reference numeral l9, should be maintained in a substantially horizontal position so that the bread racks 59 and iii are maintained in substantially the same horizontal plane at all times. In order to uide and support the carriage 79 for vertical movement while maintaining the bread carriage 79 in a horizontal plane there are pro- Vided two pairs of pivotally mounted parallel motion arms 86 and 8! of substantially identical configuration which are pivoted to the frame 45 at the cord end of the automatic toaster 25 and connected to the bread carriage 79 at the thermostat end of the toaster.

As illustrated, each pair of the parallel motion arms 80 and S! are in the form of a closed loop of wire completely surrounding the frame :35, and having a particular configuration closely conforming to the frame cross section clearly shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings.

To pivotally support the parallel motion arms 8! and 32 at the cord 7 end of the automatic) toaster the angular extensions 36a and did of the side frame plates it and ll are each provided with projections 4th and ill) extending beyond the end top frame plate 52 which projections are disposed in spaced parallel relationship. The vertical edges of the projections t6?) and tlb each are provided with vertically spaced notches 83 and 84% for pivotally supporting the parallel motion arms 80 and 85, the notches 33 being adapted to receive portions of the arms so while the notches 84 are adapted to receive portions of the arms 8!. For the purpose of maintaining the parallel motion arms 80 and 8! in their respective notches 83 and 3 3 and at the same time stren then the frame by interconnecting the side frame plates 86 and 41 at the cord end thereof, there is provided a frame cross yoke 36. This .yoke 86 is suitably fastened by means of selfarms at and 22 within the notches s3 and '84 each arm is provided at its pivotally mounted end between the notches 83 and as with a small U- shaped bend designated as 800, for the loop 80 and similarly as Bid for the loop 8|. These U- shaped bends Sim and 8 la are disposed in notches out in the upper and lower edges respectively of the cross frame member 86 near the center thereof. The vertical edges of these notches are formed into ears 89 clearly shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, to engage with either side of the U-shaped bends 80a and 81a, respectively, thereby limiting sidewise movement thereof. This arrangement tends to reduce bearing friction due to pivotal mounting of the parallel motion arms 80 and 8| since the ears 89 are bent so as to engage the U-shaped bends 86a and Ma at points coaxial with the bearing points of the arms 86 p and 8| in notches 83 and 8 5, respectively.

Preferably the parallel motion arms 80 and BI are originally formed into closed loops from suitable wire stock and at the junction of the ends of each loop there are provided a pair of spaced washers 83 indicated at one side of the cross portions thereof near the thermostat end of the toaster 25. These thermostat end cross portions designated as 8% and 8!?) respectively for the parallel motion arms 89 and Bi respectively are bowed sufficiently to clear any mechanism at the thermostat end of the toaster in moving from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The parallel motion arms 86 and. 85 are pivotally related to the bread carriage Hi by extending through the uppermost and lowermost openings respectively of the three vertically spaced openings, referred to above, defined by the interfitting cross members 12a and 11a. The washers 83 as is clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 7 of the drawings are disposed on either side of one set of interfitting cross members 12a and 11a to prevent other than relative pivotal movement between the bread carriage l9 and the parallel motion arms 88 and 8 I. From the above description it is apparent that by virtue of the parallel motion arms 88 and 8!, the bread carriage 19 is constrained to move only in a vertical direction and the bread racks 69 and it are maintained in substantially the same horizontal plane throughout the motion thereof.

For the purpose of limiting the maximum motion of the bread carriage 19 so that the desired movement of approximately three inches of the bread racks to and from the toasting position is produced, the vertical cross members 12a are provided at their upper and lower ends with lateral projections 1219, the upper ones of which engage with suitable integral extensions or stops 88 projecting from the thermostat end of the side frame plates 46 and ll, respectively. The maximum downward movement is limited by the lower lateral projections 12b of the bread carriage 19 coming into engagement with the sub-base 50. The uppermost position of the bread carriage 19 is shown in Figs. 3 and of the drawings where the stops 88 are engaged thereby. The lowermost position of the bread carriage is shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings where the sub-base 50 is engaged thereby.

IMOTION IVIULTIPLYING MEANS It will be understood that any suitable motive means for causing movement of the bread carriage 19 may be provided. Such means might comprise an electric motor such as is disclosed in the above mentioned Wright and J epson patresults.

ent, spring motive means or the like. 7 As dcscribed in detail in the ensuing description there is provided a thermomotive means Gil which acts as the prime mover for'the bread carriage I9. This thermomotive means 60 is capable of producing only a limited amount of movement of the lifter lever depressor bar 58 of the order of about one-eighth of an inch as will be described in detail hereinafter. In order to convert such limited vertical motion of the depressor bar 58 to the desired movement of the bread carriage '39 a suitable motion multiplying means is required to interconnect the depressor bar 58 and the bread carriage l9. As illustrated this mechanism comprises a U-shaped lifter lever and a lifter lever yoke 91. The lifter lever 90 is preferably disposed so that the arms 90a of the U are in a generally'horizontal position and are parallel with the side frame plates 46 and M. Furthermore the bight of the U extends across the cord end of the frame 45 beneath the projections 3th and dlb. The arms Gila are preferably pivotally mounted at intermediate points thereon to the frame 45 by means of pivot pins 533 in the form of suitable screws, or the like. The ends of the arms a of the lifter lever 9!! remote from the bight of the U are pivotally connected by means of a rivet 94 adapted to be engaged by upwardly extending hook shaped portions 58a of the depresser bar 58.

The lifter lever yoke 9| comprises a channel shaped cross member Qla extending across the cord end of the frame 55 beneath the projection 3th and 47b. Integrally formed with each end of the cross member 9 la are vertically disposed links 95 the lower ends of which are pivotally connected by pivot pins 96 with the bight end of the U-shaped arms 90a of the lifter lever 98. The upper ends of the links 85 are provided with notches 91 for receiving therein portions Sic of the parallel motion arms 8|, which are parallel with the cross member am, so as to be capable of raising the parallel motion arms at and BE in response to upward movement of the links 95. Since the links 95 are capable of transmitting upwardly directed forces to th parallel motion arms 31 at points close to the notches 84 which pivotall support the arms 8|, it is apparent that the forces are transmitted through very short lever arms and consequently a small vertical movement of the links 95 and consequently of the portions 8|c of the arms 8! causes a much greater motion of ends of the arms 8i supporting the bread carriage 19. In a mechanism constructed in accordance with the present invention a motion multiplication of approximately twenty-two to one was obtained which means that a one-eighth inch vertical movement of the links 95 produces approximately three inches of movement of the bread carriage 19.

The employment of a means for producing such a large motion magnification calls for the application of a relatively large force to the depressor bar 58 to produce sufficient force at the bread carriage to move it against the stops 8% when supporting two slices of toast. The weight of the bread carriage will of course cause it to move to its lowermost position when not opposed by a force applied through the links 95 and the parallel motion arms 8|. It is important therefore that the motion multiplying means described above be substantially frictionless. The friction free requirement is very important, since other wise jumpy and erratic bread carriage motion It will be understood that due to the 11" very high temperatures at which toasters operate, lubricated bearing points are entirely unsatisfactory, and it would furthermore be undesirable to require an operator to lubricate such bearing points periodically particularly since manyof them are quite inaccessible. In accordance with the present invention friction has been reduced to an absolute minimum by completely eliminating all sliding friction at the bearing points and replacing it with rolling friction. To this end the lifter lever is provided with rectangular openings 99 and it! (see Fig. for the pivot pins 93 and 96, respectively, thereby providing fiat bearing surfaces of sumcient length to permit the necessary limited rolling of the pivot pins relative to the cooperating fiat surfaces. The eifective flat surfaces of the rectangular opening 99 are the top surfaces, while the bottoms of the openings lill provide the effective fiat surfaces as is clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. The top engaging surfaces H30 of the hook shaped members 5811 are flat as is clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. In addition, the notches 83 and 8-5 are provided with flat top surfaces of greater length than the diameter of the wire from which the parallel motion arms 8!] and 8! are formed to permit rolling friction of the parallel motion arms 85 and 8| relative thereto. Also, the notches 97 in the links 95 are provided with fiat surfaces at the bottom thereof which are substantially longer than the diameter of the engaging portions 8ic of the parallel motion arms 3! to permit the desired rolling friction. In all of these cases the flat surfaces for insuring rolling friction are designed so as to be normal to the direction of bearing pressure. It will be understood that if when the toaster is first put into operation and by accident one or more of the bearing shafts are at the wrong end of the flats, sliding friction would occur until the shaft properly positions itself on the flat. After this initial sliding friction the pressure remains sufliciently high that the bearing shafts remain properl positioned on their respective flats, so that thereafter a pure rolling friction occurs at the bearings.

THERMOMOTIVE PRIME MOVER FOR BREAD CARRIAGE As was mentioned above a suitable motive means for causing movement of the bread carriage 19 must be provided. Heretofore such mean have comprised spring motors, electric motors, and th like. Since automatic toasters require large amounts of electrical energy to perform the toasting operation (1100 Watts or more) it was thought desirable to take advantage of the thermomotive effect which can be produced by the expansion and contraction of a metal due to a change in temperature thereof. Although the efficiency of such an arrangement is always very low from the standpoint of converting electrical energy to mechanical energy, sufficient mechanical energy to produce the necessary bread carriage motion was found to be obtainable from the large electrical energy which of necessity is required to perform to toasting operation. Such thermomotive devices in the form of bimetallic elements have been suggested heretofore but have in general been quite unsatisfactory and of low energy conversion emciency and have found no practical application in automatic toasters. This, is due to several factors among which are the very great dissipation'of heat in relation to temperature rise and the long time constant (time required to reach equilibrium temperature in heating up or cooling off). have a relatively slow movement of the bread carriage during lowering and raising thereof as contrasted with an abrupt and noisy pop-up but such movement should still occur in a relatively short period of time. Consequently a satisfactory thermomotiv device should provide the maximum efficiency obtainable and still have a short time constant to produce the desired movement of the bread carriage in a relatively short period of time. Such a short time constant can best be obtained with an arrangement wherein a substantial rise in temperature is occasioned with a very small energy input. with the present invention a series of spaced turns of wire having a small surface area and mechanically stressed in tension only were found to produce a very satisfactory thermomotive device for converting electrical energy in the form of current flowing therethrough to mechanical energy by virtue of the expansion of the wire loop or turns. Such a Wire has a low dissipation factor and. undergoes a large rise in temperature with a small heat input. Furthermore all parts thereof contribute equally to the mechanical work which can be obtained. Unfortunately the actual motion obtainable with such a wire even with a large temperature rise is relatively small and in accordance with the present invention an efficient and reliable motion multiplying means is provided, whereby the thermomotive device (it produces the necessary movement of the depressor bar 53. Referring now to Fig. 8 of the drawings there is illustrated the thermomotive device 69 comprising a plurality of spaced turns of a nickel chromium wire generally designated as i613. For the purpose of multiplying the motion produced by virtue of the change in length of the different turns or loops of the Wire W3 when heated by current flow therethrough the thermomotive device 69 comprises an expansible support in the form of spaced insulated vertical structures around which the turns of the resistanc wire let are Wound, which structures in turn are supported by specially shaped yokes or trusses formed from thin stainless steel spring stock. As illustrated the spaced vertical structures comprise a pair of channel or U-shaped strut members H56 disposed with the closed ends or b ghts of the U towards each other. These vertical strut members are provided with openings If in order to mak them as light as possible without appreciably reducing the rigidity thereof. lhe upper end of the struts H35 are interconnected by a V-shaped truss or yoke its having a relatively shallow angle, i. e. the angle defining the v is approximately As a consequence a very small change in the lengths of the loops of the resistance wire i533 du to expansion under the application of heat, permits a relatively large vertical motion of the center of the truss or yoke I68 even though the ends thereof move very slightly in a horizontal direction. The l -shaped truss W8 is designed with an unflanged relatively horizontal central portion Etta and unilanged horizontal end portions ii ib. These portions 408a and I281) are interconnected by flanged angular portions 380 as is clearly shown in the Figs. 7 and 8 of the drawings. Flexing or bending of the truss I08 can therefore only occur in the unflanged central portion Etta or the unflanged end portions H2812. The truss 583 due to the weight of the bread carriage inherently tends to straighten out and continually exerts a force It is desired to s In accordance tending to separate the strut members I06 which action is restrained by the turns of the resistance wire I03.

In order to connect the upper ends of the struts Hit with the ends I88?) of the truss or V-shaped yoke i188 the struts I86 are provided with integral extensions M9 which extend through suitable openings defined in the ends IIi8a of the truss res and through openings in truss'washers III], which extensions I89 are peened over as indicated thereby fixedly to interrelate the struts I06 and the truss Hi3.

In order further to multiply the limited relative movement of the struts IE6 by virtue of the expansion and contraction of the resistanc wire W3, the lower ends of the struts I 06 are similarly interconnected by two spaced trusses I I2 and I I3 which are very similar to the truss I68. Two trusses are employed to prevent skewing of the frame defined by the struts I06 and the trusses I08, I I2 and H3 under the tensile force due to the resistance wire I as wound thereon. As illustrated, the lower ends of the struts I86 are provided with sufficiently long projections H4 to extend through suitable openings in the horizontal unflanged ends of the trusses H2 and H3 as well as through washers H511. and spacers I Ifib. The ends of the projections I it are peened over fixedly to interrelate the ends of the trusses H2 and H3 with the lower ends of the struts The trusses H2 and IE3 are provided with uniianged central portions supporting a center adjusting screw bushing Hi3 and flanged intermediate portions substantially identical with the truss I93. A suitable truss spacer Ill maintains the central portions of the trusses H2 and H3 in spaced relationship. In one arrangement constructed in accordance with the present invention, the yok I68 was designed so that the horizontal ends I031) thereof were displaced vertically from the center portion IIiSa by substantially three-eighths of an inch when the resistance wire I83 was cold, thereby affording the above mentioned very shallow angle. Under the same conditions, in a construction embodying the present invention, the ends of the yoke I12 and H3 were disposed vertically above the central portions thereof by substantially five-sixteenths of an inch.

In addition to the double truss arrangement at the lower ends of the strips I 3 which prevent skewing in one direction of the frame of the thermomotive device 58 (comprising the struts IE6 and the trusses ms, H2 and H3), the upper end of one strut I06 is connected by means of a suitable tension wire H8 with the lower end of the other strut I36 to prevent skewing in another direction. The ends of this diagonally disposed Wire 5 It may be hook-shaped to engage suitable slots defined in the upper and lower ends of the bights of the U-shaped struts I96 as is clearly indicated in Fig. 8 of the drawings.

To properly support the turns of the resistor wire I63 in the form of a spiral on the frame of thermomotiv device, in spaced relationship and insulated from the frame there ar provided on each side of the frame two vertically disposed insulating strips I29 and I'll which are provided with suitable notches for receiving integral extensions I22 of the struts IIBE to prevent vertical movement of the strips I20 and I2I relative to the struts m6. Movement thereof in any other direction is prevented by the turns of the resistance wire I03 wound thereabout. The insulating strips I20 may be designated as the clip insulators for insulating a plurality of wire receiving clips I23 from the struts I06. The wire receiving clips I23 are preferably supported in vertically spaced notches defined in the insulating strips IZI. The wire receiving clips I23 are U-shaped and maintain the individual turns of the resistance wire I533 in properly spaced relationship relative to each other. The turns of the wire I93 also aid in holding the clip I23 in position in the notches defined in th insulating strips I2I.

The lower end of the resistance wire I53 is suitably fastened to a terminal bolt I25 which extends through the lower end of one of the struts I65 whereby suitable electrical connection can be made therewith. Similarly, the upper end of the resistor wire I03 is connected to a suitable terminal bolt I26 extending through the upper end of one of the struts Ito whereby electrical conection can be made thereto. As illustrated, the ends of the resistance wire I433 are disposed within suitable slots provided in the heads of the terminal bolts I25 and 52$ respectively and brazed or soldered thereto.

It should be understood that the thermotive device 60 may be supported in any suitable place within the automatic toaster 35 so that the relative movement between the central portions IBM and I I200 of the trusses I I38 and I I2 may be transmitted to the depressor bar 58. If this depressor bar 58 is located near the center of the toaster as illustrated then the thermomotive device must preferably also be located centrally of the toaster. It will be apparent however that the depressor bar 58 might equally well be disposed near one end of the toaster as for example the cord end in which case the thermomctive device so could also be disposed at such end. The electrical energy required to heat the resistance wire Hit of the thermomotive device to is wasted except for the mechanical work obtained in producing relative movement of the centers of the trusses IN and H2. On the other hand no mechanical work is obtained from the toasting elements employed in conventional automatic toasters which ordinarily use 1100 or more watts of electrical energy. In the copending Loomer application, Serial No. 11,646, filed February 27, 1948, now Patent No. 2,590,334. and assigned to the same assignee as the present application, there is disclosed and claimed an arrangement in which the thermomotive device of the present invention with minor changes also functions as one of the toasting elements of the automatic toaster. This is very desirable since the high electrical energy required for toasting is more than sumcient to produce the desired mechanical work of the thermomotive device. Accordingly the thermomotive device of the present invention has been illustrated in this preferred embodiment whereby the resistor wire it also acts as the center heating element of the automatic toaster 25 disposed between the toasting chambers 61 and 63. To this end, the central portion I080. of the truss ass is rigidly fastened as by means of a bolt It? to the center top frame plate 53. So that the flanged portions Ides of the yoke I98 do not interfere with the center top frame plate 53, the frame plate 53 is provided with a central depression 5% to which the bolt I2? is fastened. The center top frame plate 53 is furthermore provided with depending projections 530 preferably punched therefrom as is clearly shown in Figs. '7 and 8 of the drawings. These projections 530 are adapted to engage the. ends was of the yoke or truss [08 to limi'ttheir maximum upward movement and consequently prevent. the yoke I98 from snapping over center. With this arrangement the center 1 98a of the truss I08 is fixed and consequently all movement occurs at the bushing H6. In order to depress the depressor bar 58 there is provided a stud or center adjusting screw I28 threadedly engaged with the bushing HG. This stud is providedadjacent its lower end with a shoulder I29 engaging the depressor bar 58 and including a slotted projection l 36 extending through a suitable opening defined in the depressor bar '58. By means of the stud 128, suitable adjustment of the motion transmitted to the depressor bar 53 by the thermomotive device ea may be controlled.

If the thermoomtive device 68 is also employed as the center heating element then preferably a center element barrier plate is provided to confine a portion of the heat produced by the resistor wire it? to each of the toasting chambers 67 and 68 in case a single slice is being toasted. Such a barrier plate may comprise two very thin reflector plates 43!, one disposed on either side of the wire l 13 which may be used to support the same. If desired an additional wire 13-2 may extend diagonally between the reflector plates it! as clearly indicated in Fig; 8 of the drawings, to better support the barrier plate. The ends of the wire !32 may extend into notches in the bights of the U-shaped struts its adjacent the ends thereof similar to the notches for receiving the hook shaped ends of the wire H8. The center element barrier plate l3! has no function as far as the thermomotive device of the invention is concerned but is employed only when the thermotmotive device also acts as the center heating element. Where the resistance Wire H33 of the thermomotive device 69 is employed also as a toasting element the turns of wire near the bottom are spaced more closely than at the top as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 8 of the drawings in order to obtain more uniform toasting. This is necessary because of the fact that the bread slices are heated by convection as well as by radiation.

The operation of the thermomotive device 69 of the present invention with respect to the bread carriage '19 will be understood in view of the detailed description included above. When current flows through the resistor or heater wire 583 it is heated and expands thereby permitting the struts Hi6 to move apart slightly. Such movement of the struts its causes a relatively large upward movement of the shoulder I 29 of the stud or center adjusting screw I28 due to the inherent tendency of the trusses or yokes I98, H2 and H3 to try to straighten out. In an arrangement constructed in accordance with the present invention movement of the shoulder 25 in response to change in length of each loop or turn of the resistance wire 1 83 was about eight times greater than such change in length. Upward movement of the shoulder I29 frees the depressor bar 58 whereupon it is permitted to move under the weight of the bread carriage "is and any toast supported thereon until movement of the carriage i9 is stopped by the sub-base 50. When the current flow through the resistor wire N32: is cut off the wire cools and contracts so as to move the struts it toward each other slightly. The shoulder i29- of the center adiusting screw 123 is furthermore moved downwardly and consequently forces the depressor bar '58 to move downwardly with the result that. the

bread carriage 1-9 is moved against the upper stops 88, whereupon the toast supported thereon can readily be removed.

It will be understood that the tensile strength of nickel-chrome wire, from which the resistor wire m3 is preferably formed, is substantially less at high temperatures than when cold, and consequently it is essential that when the resistance wire [t3 reaches a high temperature that substantially no tensile force is applied thereto. This is accomplished by so designing the resistance wire Hi3 relative to the thermomotive device 69 that a substantial expansion thereof occurs after the bread carriage has moved to the position shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings against the sub-base 59. In a thermomotive device constructed in accordance with the present invention, all tensile stress was removed from the resistance wire 493 when the temperature thereof reached approximately F., although it ultimately reached an equilibrium temperature of between l500l600 F. With this arrangement the elastic limit of the resistance wire H13 was not exceeded.

By employing the resistor wire N3 of the thermomotive device 68 in a dual capacity both as a toasting or heating element as well as the means for producing mechanical work as is claimed in the above mentioned copending Loomer application, adequate lifting power for the bread rack '59 is provided without requiring any additional expenditure for electrical power. Furthermore the mechanical arrangement is relatively simple and to a large degree is self-compensating for variations in manufacture. Thus, if one loop of the spirally wound resistorwire W3 happens to be wound tighter than the remainder and as a consequence assumes more than its share of stress, it will yield as that stress becomes excessive and transfer some of it to the other loops of the wire. Actually the thermomotive device til is designed to provide for two and one half to three times as much movement as is actually used. The main reason for this is to provide a reasonably rapid and uniform rate of movement of the bread carriage 19. A second reason is to free the loops of the wire I83 of stress after their temperature exceeds what is considered a safe limit of between ll00 to 1200 F. When current is passed through the heater wire Hi3, its temperature rises with time approximately in accordance with the exponential law:

T=T;(l e-") Also in cooling the temperature varies approximately in accordance with the following expression;

T T cwhere T represents the instantaneous value of temperature, Tr represents the equilibrium high temperature (both such temperatures being relative to the surrounding or ambient temperature), 6 is the natural logarithmic base, 15 represents time and 7c is a constant. Actually the temperature rise departs somewhat from that indicated by the above equations because of the fourth power relationship between absolute temperature and heat dissipated as radiant energy.

On the fairly accurate assumption that an exponential law is substantially followed, reference may be had to Fig. 21 of the drawings where there is illustrated a curve diagram X in which the temperature. rise and fall of the resistance wire its :is plotted with respect to time. It is also assumed seams 1'7 that the expansion coefiicient of the resistance wire I03 is uniform within the range of temperatures that the wire is subjected to and that the motion multiplication factor remains constant. On these assumptions the curve X of Fig, 21 indicates not only the temperature change of the resistor wire I03 with time but also the corresponding available motion of the bread carriage 19 with respect to time. Referring now to the curve diagram Fig. 21 it may be noted that the available movement of the carriage I9 upon heating of the resistor wire I03 is represented by the vertical distance from O to C. The actually used movement in a properly adjusted thermomotive device such as 30 is represented by the vertical distance from A to B. It is apparent at once, therefore, that the time allowed for the bread carrier to move from a position corresponding to A to a position corresponding to B is very much less than the time required for heating the element I03 from room temperature to a temperature approaching its final temperature. Further in the range from A to B the temperature rise approaches a straight line relationship which means that the rate of rise and consequently the velocity of movement is substantially uniform in this range whereupon the bread slice is caused to move at a uniform rate of speed within the actual range of motion. As a result of all this, when the resistance wire I03 heats up during the period represented by the range from O to A in Fig. 21 of the drawings, the net result is simply a gradual release of the pressure of the bread carriage I9 against the stops 80. As the temperature of the resistance wire I03 asses beyond the point A of the curve X downward movement of the bread carriage i9 results. When the resistance wire I 03 reaches a temperatureof the order of 1100 F. the bread carriage I9 engages the sub-base 50 which limits its maximum downward movement so that subsequent heating of the resistor wire I03 causes the individual turns to expand thereby removing any stress on them due to the weight of the bread carriage and the bread slices being toasted since this weight is supported by the subbase 50 which is now engaged by the bread carriage. The point C in Fig. 21v represents the final temperature of about 1600 F. and in this highest range of temperature from 1100 to l600 the resistance wire I03 is under no more longitudinal stress than in any conventional toasting element.

Upon cooling of the resistor wire I03 from the point C to B of the curve X no resultant movement of the bread carriage I9 occurs and it continues to engage its lower limit stop, namely the sub-base 50. As is obvious from the curve of Fig. 21 the time of cooling during this range is very short so as to be substantially negligible. At the point B the resistance I03 has cooled and contracted sufficiently to begin to encounter the stress applied through the yokes H2, H3 and I03 and the struts I06 of the weight of the bread carriage l9 and the bread slices carried thereby, and from B to A the contraction of the resistor wire I03 causes relative separation of the center points of the trusses or yokes I08 and IE2, with the result that the depressor bar 58 is moved downwardly to lift the bread carriage l9 andlassociated bread slices from the position shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings to the position shownin Fig. 3. From the point A to O the resistance wire I03 cools still further and more slowly asis clearly indicated .by the curve X but no further movement of the bread carriage I9 .results since such movement is prevented by the stops 88. Instead further contraction, at these relatively low temperatures, of the resistance wire I03 serves to increase the pressure of the bread carriage I9 against its upper stops 88. This pressure involves the application of a considerably greater stress on the resistance wire than that due to the weight of the bread carriage alone. This pressure may be adjusted by means of the center adjusting screw I28 and it should at least equal the weight of two bread slices of the largest size which could be accommodated by the automatic toaster 25 so that when such bread slices are placed on the breadv carriage 19 suificient force will still be present to hold the bread carriage against the stops 88 until the thermomotive device 60 functions to permit movement to the toasting position.

It will beunderstood that if someone were to forcibly depress the bread carriage I9 while the heater wire I03 was cold that an increased stress would be applied thereto. If desirable asuitable relief spring could beprovided to relieve such additional stress on the wires. However, this has been found to be unnecessary due to the high resilience of the structure, especially in the parallel motion arms 80, and 8| whereupon such additional stress is only partially transmitted to the turns of the resistance wire I03 even under such abnormal conditions. Furthermore at these low temperatures (room temperature) the resistance wire I 03 is able to withstand much higher stresses than when heated well above 1100 F. If for example the toaster were incorrectly adjusted at the factory so that the bread carrier motion is shifted from its proper range A B to the higher temperature portion of the curve X of Fig. 21 of the drawings whereby an excessive stress would be applied to the resistance wire I03 when hot, this condition would automatically correct itself. Such stress, if excessive, would cause the wire I03 to yield slightly, and in so yielding, will bring the useful portion of the curve within the range A-B where it belongs.

The stress on the resistor wire I03 can be further reduced by applying a tension spring between the sub-base 50 and the U-shaped bend 8Ia of the parallel motion arms 8|. This spring if properly designed can be made to partially oifset the weight of the bread carriage and'associated parts. In an arrangement constructed in accordance with the present invention and designed for -volt operation, it was found that the stress due to the weight of the bread carriage Specially shaped dual linear heat sources From the above discussion it is apparent that the resistor wire I03 also functions as a center heating element for toasting one side of any bread slices disposed in the toasting chambers 61 and 38. To toast the other sides of the bread slices, so called end toasting elements are conventionally provided which would be dis posed at the thermostat end and the cord end of the toaster adjacent the toasting chambers 61 and 68 respectively. Before describing the end.

toasting elements of the present invention; attention is directed to the fact that the automatic 

